Words with no Demand
by You'veBeenJayed
Summary: Lately, Tails hasn't been acting himself. He's been tired, clumsy, withdrawn, and most of all, skinnier? Sonic thinks his buddy can handle himself, but maybe he'll realize he's wrong too late, for once. Rated T for mentions of anarexia.
1. The Time Distorter

**I hope this story goes over well. Not sure where exactly I'm going with it, but I do know how it's going to go for a bit.**

**--**

Everyone was out in the living room, circled around the couch, watching the television like they did most lazy afternoons and nights. Amy, Cream and Cheese, and Rouge dominated the couch; while the boys, Knuckles and Sonic, took the floor in front of them.

"Pass the chips," Knuckles grunted, holding his spike-gloved paw up towards the couch.

"What's the magic word?" Rouge teased.

"Now." The chips were thrown at him by a slightly offended bat. He completely ignored this and dug around in the bag, pulling out a handful of chips and stuffing them in his mouth.

Afternoon turned to night and before they all knew it, it was almost nine o' clock. Sonic saw everyone to the door and waved goodbye. "Thanks for the dinner, Ames!" He closed the door and turned back to the kitchen to clean up. As he was picking up the dirty plates, he noticed one untouched one and frowned.

_Tails never came to dinner…_

Sonic dumped the dirty plates off in the sink and grabbed Tails unused plate. He went to the kitsune's workshop and knocked on the door. There was a small response from inside and Sonic went in. It didn't take long for him to find his two-tailed buddy, on his knees, screwing a nut into place on his newest invention.

Without taking his eyes off the thing he was working on, Tails mumbled, "Just set it on the table." Sonic glanced to his left and did as Tails asked.

Before the hedgehog left, he stood next to Tails for a second or two. "What're you working on, bro?"

Tails finally sat back a little from his invention and stood, wiping away the dirt and oil on his usually white gloves. "I'm working on a time distorter," He cocked his head and frowned. "But I still have a long way to go with it before it'll be finished,"

Sonic nodded slightly, studying the machine. Right now, it only looked like a small, iron cube with no buttons or anything. Very plain. Very intricate. Very boring. Sonic had to suppress a yawn.

"So what's it supposed to do exactly?" he couldn't help but feel polite to ask.

"Well, it's basically a wormhole—a tear in the spacetime continuum—that is transversable through time. It should allow superluminal travel by ensuring that the speed of light is not exceeded locally at any time," he paused and mumbled to himself, "Though I can't seem to get both ends of the wormhole at a high enough velocity… Probably because I'm not done with the other two stabilizers yet…"

Sonic scratched his head at all this. "Uh, what?"

Tails gave a small laugh. "In other words, it's a time machine."

Sonic's eyes widened. An actual time machine? He knew Tails was smart, but he never would've guessed his little buddy was genius enough to build a time machine. The only time Sonic ever traveled through time was with the held of the Chaos Emeralds and even so, that was in highly drastic situations.

"That's great, Tails! How long do you think it'll take before it's finished?"

Tails grew silent. He looked almost…annoyed. But Sonic ignored it, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot, waiting for the answer. Finally, Tails spoke, after taking a short breath of air. "As long as it has to. I'm not stopping 'till it's done. This could help so much with our fights with Eggman or any other bad guys."

"Don't work too hard there, buddy. Remember to get some fresh air and food every once in a while, too."

Tails sat back down to work on the machine again. "Right, Sonic." He mumbled.

Sonic crossed his arms. "Good. It's getting late too. Your dinner's on the table over there, you should eat it before it gets cold, then head to bed. I'm going to head back home, okay?"

"Okay."

"See ya!" Sonic patted the young kitsune on the back before zipping out of the workshop. Tails ignored it and continued working on his invention.

By the time he went to bed after finishing only about half of the first stabilizer, the sun was beginning to rise. His food was never touched.

--

**I know this was a pretty short chapter, but they should get longer by the next couple of chapters.**

**Oh, and never forget, to Read and Review!**


	2. Another AllNighter

**Wow, I got many more reviews than I was expecting. And good ones too! Thank you reviewers—I'll try my best to make this a story of your standards!**

**--**

Sonic slowly arose from his bed like a vampire from a coffin, stretching and yawning, before finally leaving the bed. Within five minutes, he was wide awake and ready for some breakfast. It never did take the hyperactive hedgehog too long to wake up. He always had to be prepared for any situation.

The blue hedgehog walked normally down the hallway to the kitchen, making himself a cup of hot chocolate. He and Tails never were big on coffee. Sugary chocolate was all they ever needed to get through the day.

Sonic then proceeded to make him the traditional breakfast of eggs and bacon. As he was finishing up his last piece of bacon, he checked the clock and was surprised that Tails wasn't up yet. It was almost ten-thirty. His little buddy never slept this late.

"He must've pulled an all-nighter last night working on his little machine," Sonic thought aloud. "Well, I better go wake him up anyway,"

Sonic came to Tails' door and knocked. No answer. Again he knocked; again there was no answer. So Sonic decided to let himself in. Sure enough, there was Tails, sunk down into the blankets like a mummy. All that showered was just a lump of fur from his head. It was a rather cute sight, actually. Sonic chuckled softly walking up to the kitsune's bed.

He ruffled his fur. "Tails, time to get up." There was no answer, just soft breathing. "Tails, wake up," He gently shook the fox's shoulder. No movement whatsoever. "C'mon, buddy, we gotta go patrol the town," Sonic jabbed his forehead. Tails groaned and sunk down more into the blankets. "Good to know you're still alive. Now wake up!" Tails was asleep again. "Alright, you asked for it, Tails…"

Sonic found and grabbed a loose end of the blankets Tails was so carefully wrapped up in. He looked up at the sleeping form in the bed. "One more chance," No response. Sonic smirked mischievously and, with half his force, yanked on the blanket end, forcing the poor fox in bed to twirl out of his comfort and roll onto the ground with a yelp and a thud.

Sonic walked over to help him up, still smiling widely. "Sorry, Tails, but it was the only way to wake you up."

Tails stood and rubbed his head, wiping at his eyes, groggily. "Yeah, sure…" He slowly got on his shoes and gloves.

"Didn't get much sleep last night, huh?" Sonic pointed out.

Tails shook his head. "No, and I still never finished half of that stabilizer I spent all day on,"

The cobalt hedgehog patted him on the back. "I'm sure you'll get it. Now, you ready to go?"

"Actually, Sonic, I was hoping to work on that time distorter again today, if you don't mind," Tails spoke up, somewhat sheepishly.

Sonic blinked, a little caught off-guard. "Uh, sure, buddy. Do whatever you want, I guess. Since there doesn't seem to be any Eggman activity so far," He turned to face the door. "I'll come get you if I catch anything suspicious, okay?"

"Okay, Sonic. I'll be in the workshop," Tails stood, ready to head out. He felt a little better now that he did something. It wasn't like this was his first all-nighter. He was more used to them now.

"Oh, and since you missed breakfast, don't forget to grab some lunch, got it?"

"Right."

"See ya, Tails!" Sonic zipped out of the house without another word.

Tails yawned once more before heading out on his own to his workshop. The second he entered the door, his thoughts were completely focused on nothing but that stabilizer. The world was completely tuned out.

--

"So did you guys find anything suspicious?" Sonic asked the group.

"Not in my area," Amy answered.

"Nor on Angel Island," Knuckles said.

"Great. Now we just need to wait for a report from Rouge and if all's good then we can hang out,"

"Great!" Amy cheered, hugging Sonic's neck.

"Amy, you're…uh…choking me." Sonic managed to breathe out.

She let go disdainfully. "Oops."

"Break it up, love birds. Here comes Rouge now," Knuckled pointed out. Rouge landed gracefully between the group of three and searched for Sonic.

"What's the news, Rouge?" Sonic asked again.

"So far, not much. Eggy's cooking up a little something, but so far it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal. I say we relax on it," Rouge reported.

"Well, _I_ say we check it out. It could be something serious—like a plot to steal the chaos emeralds," Knuckled argued.

"Why? You worried that big, bad Egghead's going to steal your emerald…again?" Rouge snickered.

Knuckled growled and glared at her. "No! Because if he ever tried, I'd beat him to a pulp. Just like I might do to you if you don't keep your mouth shut, Batty."

The jewel thief mocked fright before poking the echidna's muscles. "You're a bit too rounded to be speaking to tough, aren't you? I think those 'muscles' of yours are flapping the other way,"

Sonic and Amy rolled their eyes. "Alright, break it up you two." Sonic said, pushing Knuckles back a little.

"Fine, whatever…" the red echidna grumbled. Rouge smirked and crossed her arms.

"We won't worry too much on Egghead's project, but we'll stay on our toes. Got it? Any suspicious activity at all on the city and we take it," Everyone nodded in agreement. "Good. Now I say we hang at Knuckle's today,"

"So do I," Rouge added. "No offense, Blue, but your place can get a bit stuffy if you know what I mean,"

Knuckles groaned a little. "Fine. But if any of you break anything, it'll be your head I replace it with. That goes especially for you, Sonic,"

"By the way, Sonic," Amy started, "where is Tails?"

"Oh yeah. I never saw the little cutey all day yesterday either," Rouge mused.

Sonic shrugged. "He's working on some geek machine in his workshop. You all know how he gets when he starts working on something. It takes a lot to distract him from it,"

"Yeah, I guess. But he missed dinner, too. Did you ever get it to him?" Amy asked.

"Like anyone would want to miss one of your delicious meals…" Knuckles mumbled. Amy punched him—_hard_—in the arm.

"Ouch!"

Rouge snickered a little.

Sonic ignored them. "Yeah, I did. Not sure if he ever ate it or not, but he probably did. He didn't go to bed 'till early this morning probably, because he was out of it when I tried waking him up,"

"Oh, okay then."

--

Afternoon came and went just as quickly as it did yesterday. The group of five (they picked Cream up some time in the day, due to Amy's wishes) flipped to the News station every once in a while, but everything continued to be calm and Eggman-free.

That night happened to be a scary-movie marathon on television. Amy took Cream home half-way through the first one, neither of the girl's wanting to watch "When Zombies Attack". Rouge left shortly after, leaving just Sonic and Knuckles is all their gore-loving glory.

Sonic ended up staying the night. Both boys accidentally falling asleep during "When Zombies Attack 4".

--

Tails checked the clock. He eyes widened a little. Six in the morning?

"Man, another all-nighter. I wonder when Sonic got home." He yawned loudly, showing his sharp canines. His stomach growled. "I should go grab something to eat and head to bed."

He looked down at his work and frowned, sighing. He was still only done with two stabilizers, which meant he had to finish one more and then get started on the time teleportation pod—which would take a lot more work than the stabilizers. This was hard work. Maybe he was just losing his touch?

He growled and sat back down again. His hunger and drowsiness forgotten for the moment as he continued his work on the machine.

--

**I know, yet another slow, lame-ish chapter. It'll get better—promise! I shall keep these promises!**

'**Sides, it's only chapter two. Eggman hasn't even come in yet. **


	3. Of Course He's Fine

**Guess what? My birthday's coming up! (Unfortunately it's the first day of school around here) Anyway, I'm going to ask my grandma to make me my very own… Tails Doll doll! Bwahaha!**

**So, after my birthday's over and I have the Tails Doll and this story get randomly discontinued…send a search party for me! **

**--**

Rouge knocked on Knuckle's door. She waited a few seconds before knocking again—louder. There was still no response. She growled and was ready to knock even louder, but Amy gently pushed her arm down and stood in front.

"Allow me." The pink hedgehog slammed the door in with her piko-piko hammer. Cream and Rouge blinked, looking through the dust inside the dark house.

"Nice job, kid," Rouge complimented before taking a step in, Amy and Cream a few steps behind. They weren't able to get very far before a loud gasp was heard. The source, standing in front of them, was a very angry-looking echidna.

"You broke down my door!" he exclaimed.

Amy sweat-dropped. "Yeah, but you, uh—"

"Well that's your fault for not answering, sleepy-head," Rouge spoke up for Amy.

Knuckles growled. "You could've just knocked!"

"I did. You didn't answer,"

"So you knock down my door?!"

"Cool it, big boy. I'll get you a new one. Where's Blue?" Rouge told him off-handedly.

Sonic walked up from behind Knuckles, stretching. He covered his mouth in a yawn and half-waved to everybody. "You called?" he paused. "What happened to the door?" He blinked. Amy coughed slightly and reddened in embarrassment.

Rouge ignored him. Before Knuckles could blow up again, she spoke. "I took another early look at Eggman's project. I haven't a clue what it does, but he's got a Chaos Emerald powering it."

Sonic yawned again and waved it off. "So what?"

"Sonic, the Chaos Emeralds are extremely powerful. You've seen what they could do when in Eggman's hands," Knuckles explained.

"Yeah. I've also seen what I could do up against them. Whatever Eggman's got up his sleeve will be too easy," Sonic said.

"Sonic…" Knuckled growled. "Don't be so high of yourself before you even know what you're up against. That ego of yours is going to get you in some real trouble one of these days,"

"Yeah, yeah. So what are we gonna do? Hang out, or what? 'Cause I'm bored just hanging around here,"

"Sonic! Aren't you even going to worry a little over what Eggman might do with that machine and Chaos Emerald?" Amy complained.

"Why should I? It'll be fine, Ames. Everyone needs to stop worrying so much."

"Fine, Sonic…"

"So what are we going to do today?" he asked again.

"Is Tails going to join us today, Mr. Sonic?" Cream asked. "Chao!" Cheese agreed.

Sonic scratched the back of his head in thought. "Oh, yeah, Tails," he shrugged. "I dunno. He's been pretty busy with some work of his. I can drop by there real quick, if you want,"

"Okay!" Cream smiled.

"Alright, be back in no-time." Sonic sped off. The first place he went to was his and Tails' house. He was surprised to see no sign of Tails in the living room or kitchen. He went to the fox's bedroom. "Ah, there you are…" He smirked. He walked slowly and quietly up to the bed, next to the lump in the blankets. After waiting a second, he yanked back the blankets again. As the blue hedgehog waited for a yelp of surprise, nothing came, so he opened his eyes and was confused to find no two-tailed fox in site.

"Huh, he must be out at his workshop already,"

Sonic ran at normal pace over to Tails' workshop. Sure, it took a little longer, but it was nice to see the scenery in a normal view every once in a while.

Sonic knocked lightly on the workshop door. There was no response from inside, so he walked in anyway. One of the first things he noticed was the plate of food from the other day still sitting on the table he put it on. Old, cold, and untouched. He frowned. It wasn't like Tails to not eat. The kid was a bigger eater than himself most of the time. He wondered where he kept it all.

"Tails?" Sonic called, drawing his eyes from the untouched food. His eyes scanned the area with no success in finding the young kitsune. "Tails! You in here, buddy?"

After a couple more seconds of silence, Sonic was ready to leave and check somewhere else, when a rustling and clinking sound caught his ears. He turned to a pile of what looked to be junk and watched closely.

The pile started moving slightly. A larger piece fell from the pile, causing Sonic to jump a little in surprise. He walked closer to the large pile and stared at the hole. Suddenly, one, then two, big bushy tails popped out from the hole. Sonic smiled and put his hands on his hips, realizing Tails didn't know he was there yet.

Tails backed out of the hole. He stood at the position, completely out of the hole, holding up the object he apparently went in there for. He studied it and nodded to himself. He took one step back, forgetting about the height he was at. The yellow fox began falling backwards, off the large pile of metal and junk, still clutching to his machine, with a loud yelp.

Sonic acted just in time and caught Tails before he hit the ground.

Tails slowly opened his eyes and, seeing that he was safe, sighed in relief. Sonic smiled down at the kitsune in his arms. He was a lot lighter than he expected. "That could've been a nasty fall there, buddy,"

Tails nodded sheepishly and stood wobbly when Sonic put him down. He held his head, he felt dizzy. Why were there two Sonics?

"You okay Tails?" Sonic asked, giving him a sympathetic look.

"Huh?" Tails mumbled. Sonic felt his forehead, but before he could fully check for a fever, Tails shook his head and backed away. The dizziness finally drifted away. One Sonic was left. "I'm fine, Sonic. Thanks for catching me…"

He brushed himself off and took the machine over to his work bench. The three stabilizers were sitting there in a triangular-like pattern.

"Uh, sure, lil' bro," Sonic blinked slowly, following him over to the bench.

"Why are you here?" Tails asked finally, bringing Sonic back to reality.

Sonic snapped from his thoughts and crossed his arms. "Cream asked if you wanted to hang with us today. We've missed you the last couple of days. I think it'd be good for you to get some fresh air with us, if you want,"

"That's okay, Sonic. I don't feel like going. Sorry. I would prefer finishing the time distorter,"

"Are ya sure?"

"Yeah."

Sonic was quiet for another short minute as he studied the kitsune, fiddling with his machine. He had bags under his eyes and looked extremely tired. He was clumsy and kept yawning. He also noticed that he probably hadn't eaten in…who knows how long.

Sonic opened his mouth to mention something about it, but decided against it and closed his mouth, saying something else instead. "Well, alright then. See ya, later, lil' bro. Looks like Eggman might make an attack sometime in the next couple of days,"

"Okay. Bye, Sonic."

Sonic sped away, frowning at first, then shrugging it off. He shouldn't worry so much about Tails, he told himself. He wasn't so young anymore. He was quite aware on how to take care of himself. He didn't need Sonic nagging him about everything.

He was sure Tails was fine.

--

Once he was sure Sonic was gone, Tails let out a rough coughing fit. He'd been holding that in the whole time. His throat felt sore and dry, his stomach felt empty and pained, and his eyes and body felt sleepy.

Tails coughed a little more into his greased-up glove, pulling it away with blood mixed in with it. He shuddered and wiped the blood away, but most of it had already stained the glove. He decided to ignore it and take a short swig of water before going back to his work.

Sonic knew deep down Tails needed his sleep and food, but he kept ignoring that little thought bubble of paranoia. Tails knew deep down that he should eat something and go to sleep, but how could he knowing that Eggman could attack at anytime and his machine still wasn't finished?

Tails coughed once more, grabbed a wrench, and went to work.

--

**I hate doing this to poor Tails, but my favorite little fox has got to feel some pain for our own dramatic amusement, right? Right.**

**Read and review! No flames!**


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